Difference between SAP MI apps and other mobile apps

[Former Member]

Hi ,

I would like to know the difference between any mobile application for eg. lets say banking application where i can do all my banking transactions or a flight reservation system which are always connected and SAP MI applications which are called 'occasionally connected applications'.

Also is it possible to make the SAP MI applications always connected through GPRS?(not actually but conceptually) Will that be more flexible than occasionally connected application? or is it that they are deliberately made as occasionally connected applications?

Also is it technically possible to make MI applications run on normal mobile phones? If not is SAP planning it in future?

Vinay

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Vinay,

well, occasionally connected apps are occasionally connected, because they have to run in an environment where you do not have a 100% coverage of signal. If you are sitting together with a customer in his building and the GPRS connection is bad - or in a plane or out on an oilrig - it is mostly no GPRS signal available. This is the reason for occasionally connected apps.

On the other hand, yes, you can sync as often as you like to have a kind of online app - but if you can do that - why do you then not develop a WebDynproMobile app or a simple WebPage or Portals App, that you can browse on the mobile device - if it is necessary for you to have always 100% actual data. The problem is: if you use MI to do that, you need to sync always and a sync takes a while on a PDA and even on a Laptop it is nothing that is done in a second.

So you have to decide: either having a dataset on the device available and have the ability to work offline and sync the changes time to time, or need to work in the backend and then work with a WebPage instead.

But: mostly it is not really necessary to have real time data and if - for example to check the stock in the warehouse - this is just a single part of the app that can take a few seconds to check with a usual sync - but the rest of the information is stored on the device and used form there without the need for connectivity.

Hope this gives you a better understanding.

Regards,

Oliver

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Oliver,

Thanks for the info! but one last question, is it by any chance possible to run MI apps on a mobile phone (non-PDA). If not is it technically possible for SAP to design MI client for non-PDAs ? is SAP planning that in future?

Vinay

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi,

well, the question is not if SAP wants to support that - the question is if Creme will run on these machines. Changing the MI coding to another JVM runtime is not that easy, cause then you have a complete different codeline. Actually MI for PDA and PC is not that different at the end - if you decide to run in another JVM - if there is any - then you end up with a complete different codeline and so I think SAP will not support that way.

But if Creme will be available on these phones one day - yes, then you are able to run MI on these phones. Ask NSICom - perhaps they have plans to support mobile phones in the near future.

BUT: there is another issue that comes to my head: Mobile phones have only a very limited memory. You need at least 64MB - better is 128MB of RAM to run MI - I guess most mobile phones do not have that. And the screen resolution is problematic as well for standard MI and is there a IE available for a normal phone? Well, if I continue that way we can find several more problems I guess that will hold us back from running MI on a Mobile Phone I think. So unfortunately I have to say the word I usually do not like:

No, this is not possible - sorry.

Regards,

Oliver